Pop Culture: Taste of home now available somewhere else

Saturday

Jun 29, 2013 at 4:00 PM

Food-providers are going to great lengths to make products look like they were made by a novice.

Dennis Volkert @sturgisnewsroom

Not so long ago, it was all the rage to find "copycat" recipes so you could make chain-restaurant favorites in the privacy of your kitchen.Today, food-providers are going to great lengths to make products look like they were made by a novice."Americans still love their fast food and packaged snacks, but they're increasingly turning their noses up at foods that look overly processed," said an Associated Press story this week. "Home-cooked meals — or ones that at least look like they were homemade — are seen as more wholesome and authentic."For one line of deli-meat, Kraft uses a slicer that deliberately makes the slabs look like it was carved by a 5-year-old. (My description, not theirs).Wendy's softened the edge of its traditionally square burgers.Everything from pizza to McMuffins is being altered, to give consumers that "homemade" vibe as they venture out of the home and make someone else do their cooking.So, essentially, roles have been reversed. To eat at home, you have to go somewhere else. If you want to dine out, stay home.One thing we won't have to make at home anymore is Twinkies, which are set to be revived in July, according to Hostess.Plans to discontinue the famous snack cake were announced in 2012. It sent many Americans into a panic. Some people were in such anguish, they forgot to have their deli meat sliced professionally.I wonder if Hostess is going to reintroduce the snack cake with deliberate imperfections, to follow the latest trend.Or maybe this was all a new-Coke-like conspiracy to inflate the popularity of Twinkies.If so, when they return to shelves next month, they'll taste like Pepsi. (The Twinkies, not the shelves. Those will taste like homemade pizza created at a restaurant).Bottom line, I hope Twinkies don't start looking amateurish. Let's leave that to professionals.I poke fun at this "imperfection" food trend, but I understand the motivation. I've been hard at work for the past few years trying to give this column an "unprocessed" look. It seems to be working like a charm.

Dennis Volkert is features editor at the Sturgis Journal. Contact him at dvolkert@sturgisjournal.com.